Obs. (or Hist.) [Obscure formation on SUPPORT v.; perh. an error.] = SUPPORTER 3 b.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abuses, I. (1879), 52. A certain deuice made of wyers,… whipped ouer either with gold, thred, siluer or silk, and this hee [sc. the Devil] calleth a supportasse, or vnderpropper. This is to be applyed round about their necks vnder the ruffe,… to beare vp the whole frame and body of the ruffe from falling and hanging down.
1902. Athenæum, 2 Aug., 163/3. Plate xlvi. shows a vandyked ruff with its supportasses.
